Whilst some convertible vehicles are manufactured on an assembly line there is a limited availability and range of such vehicles. It has thus become common practice for standard sedan type vehicles to be made into convertible form for different applications, for example for use in hire vehicle fleets in say, resort areas. For this purpose, the hard top of the vehicle is removed and replaced with a soft top which may be erected when desired or left open so as to leave the occupants exposed to external weather conditions.
Removal of the hard top or roof of a vehicle creates a number of difficulties as strength of the vehicle is often, as a consequence, reduced necessitating reinforcing in a number of different ways. Such reinforcing often takes the form of under floor reinforcing which is required to be secured to the floor of the vehicle by welding or other rigid connection means. Such reinforcing is required to be particularly strong and extensive and accordingly the material costs and the labour costs of installing same tend to be relatively high resulting in an overall high cost of conversion.